Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis, Lalremsanga & Chinliansiama & Bohra & Biakzuala & Vabeiryureilai & Muansanga & Malsawmdawngliana & Hmar & Decemson & Siammawii & Das & Purkayastha, 2022

Lalremsanga, Hmar Tlawmte, Chinliansiama, Hauzel, Bohra, Sanath Chandra, Biakzuala, Lal, Vabeiryureilai, Mathipi, Muansanga, Lal, Malsawmdawngliana, Fanai, Hmar, Gospel Zothanmawia, Decemson, H. T., Siammawii, Vanlal, Das, Madhurima & Purkayastha, Jayaditya, 2022, A new bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus Gray: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the state of Mizoram, India, Zootaxa 5093 (4), pp. 465-482 : 471-477

Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov.

Figs. 3–7 ; Table 3

Holotype. Adult male ([ MZMU2432 ]; Fig. 3 ), from a large rock (22.891175°N, 92.748943°E; elevation 986 m a.s.l.) at Electric Veng , opposite residential buildings nearby a local link road connecting National Highway 54 at Venglai with the outskirts of Lunglei town at Zobawk , Lunglei District , Mizoram state, India, collected on 24 June 2021 by Hauzel Chinliansiama , Gospel Zothanmawia Hmar , Fanai Malsawmdawngliana, Lal Muansanga and Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga.

Paratypes. One adult male ( MZMU2431 ) and one female ( MZMU2430 ) with same collection data as holotype. One adult male ( MZMU2426 ) and one adult female ( MZMU2427 ) collected from crevices and horizontal cleft of roadside rocky wall at Chanmari Veng (22.886930°N, 92.747698°E; elevation 1036 m a.s.l.) inside Lunglei town collected on 24 June 2021, Lunglei District , Mizoram state, India, by Hauzel Chinliansiama , Gospel Zothanmawia Hmar and Fanai Malsawmdawngliana. One adult female ( MZMU2429 ), collected from crevices of retaining wall near vehicles road at Ramthar Veng (22.828253°N, 92.754160°E; elevation 1023 m a.s.l.) in the heart of Lunglei town , Lunglei District, Mizoram state, India, collected on 24 June 2021 by Hauzel Chinliansiama .

Definition. Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. has a SVL 64.9–75.1 mm; 10–11 supralabials; 9–11 infralabials; dorsal tubercles rounded, bluntly conical and feebly keeled, in 24–28 longitudinal rows; 32–40 paravertebral tubercles between the level of the axilla and the level of the groin; 37–43 mid-ventral scale rows; 3–5 precloacal pores in males and 5–7 pitted scales in females; 16–18 subdigital lamellae under toe IV; no single row of transversely enlarged subcaudal scales; dorsal markings dark brown, irregular and distinct; tail with alternating dark and light bands.

Description of holotype ( Fig. 3 ). Holotype in generally good preservation condition. The tail is curved clockwise. Adult male, SVL 65.0 mm. Head length slightly more than one-quarter of the snout to vent length (HL/ SVL 0.31), longer than broad (HW/HL 0.59), somewhat depressed (HD/HW 0.60), and distinct from the neck; loreal region with granular scales; interorbital region is concave; canthus rostralis broadly rounded; snout less than half of the head length (SO/HL 0.35), less than twice as long as orbit diameter (OD/SO 0.62); scales on forehead, canthus rostralis and snout homogeneous. Scales from posterior margin of eye to nape are smaller than those on forehead, somewhat blunt and juxtaposed; scales on forehead till the interorbital region without distinct tubercles. Orbit diameter less than one-quarter of the head length (OD/HL 0.22); pupil vertical with crenulate margins; supracilliaries distinct, somewhat blunt, decreasing in size from anterior to the posterior; ear opening small (EL/HL 0.10), oval, obliquely orientated; eye to ear distance is less than the eye diameter (OE/OD 0.90). Rostral slightly wider than long (RL/RW 0.76), partially divided dorsally by a weakly developed rostral groove; single enlarged supranasal on either side separated by a single scale, about the same size as enlarged scales on snout; rostral in contact with the first supralabials, nasals, supranasals and internasals; nostrils oval, opening laterally oriented, three-fourths covered by the nasal pad, each nasal in broad contact with the rostral and surrounded by a supranasal, first supralabial, and two postnasals; 2–3 rows of scales separate the orbit from the supralabials; mental wider than long (ML/MW 0.56), triangular; two well developed postmentals on either side, the inner pair almost twice the size of the outer pair (PMIIL/PMIL 0.33); inner postmentals in contact with the mental, infralabial I, one outer postmental and three gular scales; outer postmental on each side is in contact with one inner postmental, infralabials I and II, and four gular scales; ten supralabials on each side, bordered by a 2–3 of slightly elongated scales; ten and nine infralabials on right and left side respectively, infralabials II to V bordered ventrally by a row of enlarged gular scales, largest anteriorly; gular region mostly covered with small granular scales except for a few rows bordering the mental, postmentals and infralabials which are larger, flat and juxtaposed.

Body moderately slender; trunk length half of snout to vent length (TRL/SVL 0.52); dorsal scales heterogeneous, mostly rounded granular scales, intermixed with irregularly arranged, enlarged tubercles (3–4 times larger than surrounding granular scales), bluntly conical and feebly keeled, becoming more conical and slightly smaller dorsolaterally and on flanks, largest on presacral and sacral regions; tubercles extend posteriorly from occipital region to beyond tail base; tubercles on nape smaller than those on dorsum; 24 mid-body rows of dorsal tubercles; 34 paravertebral tubercles between the level of the axilla and the level of the groin; ventral scales larger than dorsals, smooth, cycloid, imbricate to subimbricate, largest on the abdomen, slightly smaller under the thighs and on the region anterior to the cloacal opening; 38 mid-ventral scale rows; three precloacal pores in a continuous series with one pitted scale preceding and succeeding the pore bearing scales; scales posteriorly bordering the pore-bearing scale series are little enlarged relative to pore-bearing scales; four post cloacal tubercles on each side of the tail base.

Forearm (FL/SVL 0.16) and tibia (CL/SVL 0.19) short; digits laterally compressed, without a scansorial pad, strongly inflected at each joint, all bearing robust, recurved claws; subdigital lamellae transversely widened beneath the basal phalanx; basal lamellae 4–4–5–5–4 on the left manus, 4–4–5–8–5 on the left pes; distal lamellae (intervening rows of nonlamellar granular scales between basal and distal lamellae series in parentheses): 5(1)–6(1)–8(1)–10(0)– 7(0) on the left manus, 6(1)–6(1)–8(0)–10(0)–9(1) on the left pes; interdigital webbing absent from both the manus and pes; relative length of digits: I <II <V <III <IV on the left manus, I <II <V <III <IV on the left pes; scales on the palms and soles are smooth, weakly raised, subimbricate; scales on forelimbs are heterogeneous in size, comprising flat, subimbricate scales, ventral portion covered with heterogenous sized imbricate scales; scales on the hindlimbs are heterogeneous in size, dorsal surfaces of thighs and shanks with small granular scales, intermixed with scattered, enlarged, conical, keeled tubercles; strongly keeled tubercle on the tibia region; ventral surfaces of hindlimbs with enlarged, smooth, imbricate scales.

Tail mostly original but with missing tip, gradually tapering from base to tip; dorsal caudal scales smooth, rounded, subimbricate; poorly developed tubercles limited to anterior part of the tail. Ventral caudal scales much enlarged than the dorsal caudal scales; no transversely enlarged subcaudal plates.

Colouration in life ( Fig. 4 ). Dorsum of body grayish brown; head primarily brown with a few gray patches with a distinct white streak present on the posterior end of both orbits which extends up to the centre of the back of the head, forming a semicircular pattern; below the white streak, a broad dark brown streak extends up to the ear opening. Another small white streak extends from anterior of the orbit to about halfway between the nostril and the orbit. Nape has a dark brown “W” shaped marking. The dorsal markings consist of four rows of blotches running along the body axis. The vertebral pair of blotches is nine in number when counted from nape to vent region. The hind limbs and forelimbs are primarily brown with dark brown blotches. Ventral region is uniformly off white.

The tail has alternating bluish gray (seven) and dark brown (six) bands. The posterior (about one fourth of tail length) end of the tail is dark brown in colour.

Colouration in preservative ( Fig. 5 ). The colour is pale in comparison to the live specimen. The dark spots on the dorsum have turned brownish-black.

Variation ( Fig. 5 ). Refer to table 3 for morphometric and basic pholidosis variation within the type series of Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov., comprising two adult males and four adult females. All the female specimens have 5–7 pits in the precloacal region. MZMU2430 has an unbroken pair of vertebral stripes .

Comparison. Herein Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. is compared with known members of the C. khasiensis group (see Purkayastha et al. 2020; Grismer et al. 2021). The males of Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. have 3–5 precloacal pores ( Fig. 7 ) versus more than five in C. aaronbaueri (7–8), C. agarwali Purkayastha, Lalremsanga, Bohra, Biakzuala, Decemson, Muansanga, Vabeiryureilai, Chauhan & Rathee (11–18), C. aunglini Grismer, Wood, Thura, Win, Grismer, Trueblood & Quah (12–13), C. arunachalensis Mirza, Bhosale, Ansari, Phansalkar, Swant, Gowande & Patel (6–10), C. ayeyarwadyensis Bauer (10–28 PcP), C. brevidactylus Bauer (8–9), C. cayuensis Li (6–9), C. chrysopylos Bauer (8–13), C. gansi Bauer (16–29), C. guwahatiensis Agarwal, Mahony, Giri, Chaitanya & Bauer (26–39), C. himalayicus Annandale (10), C. jaintiaensis Agarwal, Mahony, Giri, Chaitanya & Bauer (11–12), C. karsticola Purkayastha, Lalremsanga, Bohra, Biakzuala, Decemson, Muansanga, Vabeiryureilai, Chauhan & Rathee (34–38), C. kazirangaensis Agarwal, Mahony, Giri, Chaitanya & Bauer (10–11), C. khasiensis Jerdon (10– 12), C. markuscombaii Darevsky, Helfenberger, Orlov & Shah (7), C. mombergi Grismer, Wood, Quah, Thura, Herr & Lin (9–11), C. montanus Agarwal, Mahony, Giri, Chaitanya & Bauer (8–10), C. septentrionalis Agarwal, Mahony, Giri, Chaitanya & Bauer (14), C. tamaiensis Smith (40), C. tripuraensis Agarwal, Mahony, Giri, Chaitanya & Bauer (19–29), C. urbanus Purkayastha, Das, Bohra, Bauer & Agarwal (9–12). Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. has a higher number of DTR (24–28) than C. himalayicus (19–21), C. jaintiaensis (19–20), C. kazirangaensis (22–23), C. khasiensis (19–23), C. mandalayensis Mahony (18), C. nagalandensis Agarwal, Mahony, Giri, Chaitanya & Bauer (16–18), C. markuscombaii (14–15), C. montanus (21–23), C. tamaiensis (21), C. tripuraensis (19–21), C. chrysopylos (16–20). Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. has lower number of MVSR (37–43) than C. aunglini (47– 49), C. myaleiktaung Grismer, Wood, Thura, Win, Grismer, Trueblood & Quah (57) and higher than C. cayuensis (28–34), C. gansi (30–36), C. guwahatiensis (30–35), C. himalayicus (33–34), C. mandalayensis (32), C. montanus (21–23), C. nagalandensis (34–35), C. urbanus (30–34). In Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov., the ventral surface of the tail is covered with small uniform scales whereas there is an enlarged median row of subcaudal plates in C. cayuensis , C. khasiensis , C. martinstolli Darevsky, Helfenberger, Orlov & Shah. The type series (N=4) of C. bapme consists of only female individuals with three individuals having 10–13 precloacal pits and a single individual without any pit versus all the female individuals (N=4) having precloacal pits ranging from 5–7 in Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. In males, with respect to the pore bearing scales, the orientation of precloacal pores are along the body axis in Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. versus across the body axis in C. aaronbaueri and C. bengkhuaiai . Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. also differs from C. bengkhuaiai by having a higher SVL/TRL ratio, N=7 (min. 0.48, max 0.55, avg. 0.52, versus min 0.43, max 0.49, avg 0.46, N= 6 in C.bengkhuaiai ).

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Distribution and Natural History ( Fig. 6 ). This species is only known from the type locality and areas surrounding human settlements inside Lunglei town. The type series was collected on 24 June 2021 from inside crevices and clefts of rock bedding. Being a strictly nocturnal species, they were observed to be most active three to five hours after dark and in and around crevices, clefts, rock beddings and rock walls. All the individuals were encountered and collected from the height of approximately 30 cm to 170 cm above the ground. All handled specimens were very active and ready to bite defensively. The habitat is a largely anthropogenic area with small patches of homestead garden under moderately disturbed secondary growth tropical evergreen forest. All the collection sites are located in the vicinity of water sources, e.g. small hill stream and spring. The vegetation around the microhabitats where the species has been collected includes the tree species Alocasia fonnicata, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Colocasia esculenta, Dendrocalamus longispathus, Etlingera linguiformis, Mikania micrantha, Saccharum longisetosum, Semecarpus anacardium, Tithonia diversifolia, and Thysanolaena latifolia . The exposed areas of rocky microhabitat were covered by patches of lichen whereas the shady areas had bryophytes and ferns.

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the name of Lunglei District of the state of Mizoram from where the type series were collected.

Suggested Common name. Lunglei bent-toed gecko.

Figures

FIGURE 3. A: Dorsal view, B: ventral view, C: details of dorsal pholidosis, D: dorsal view of head, E: lateral view of head and F: ventral view of head of the holotype of Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. (MZMU2432).

FIGURE 4. Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. in life [A: holotype (2432); B: MZMU 2426 and C: MZMU 2429)].

FIGURE 5. Type series of Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov.

FIGURE 6. Habitat shots of Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov. at A: Electric Veng, B Chanmari Veng and C: Ramthar Veng.

FIGURE 7. The arrangement of precloacal pores in Cyrtodactylus lungleiensis sp. nov.